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Current TV relaunches website to let users define news

Posted: 17/10/07 By: Laura Oliver

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Current - the television network for young adults co-founded by Al Gore - has relaunched its website in a bid to involve users in generating and selecting news content.

The site, which is currently in beta, claims it is now the first fully integrated online and television network that allows users to determine the news that is relevant to them.

The new model for the site will echo Current's television channel, where content is created by viewers in the form of short, non-fiction video 'pods'.

New features on Current.com include asking for online feedback from users as well as converting submissions by readers into online news pieces.

Invitations will be given via the site asking users to participate in news assignments and story collaboration projects with community news organisations and citizen journalists.

The addition of a wiki will also give users 'an editorial voice' as it asks for multimedia submissions on different news and information topics.

The alterations are aimed at better reflecting, and responding to, the results of a piece of research by Current that showed more than 70 per cent of its viewers watch TV with their computers active as well.

Changes have also been made to the site's On TV section, where viewers will have the opportunity to decide what will air on the network and be asked to take part in future programming.

Readers will also be encouraged to blog, vlog and comment on the issues raised.

Current's CEO, Josh Hyatt, said the aim of the new site was to move away from taking television content and duplicating it on the internet in an attempt to unite the two media.

"With the new Current.com site, what viewers watch on either platform is not only unique, but also finally enriches the experience of the other platform," he said.

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